Another Infamous Conversation
by Chelsfanfiction
Summary: I've always wondered about the conver. between Richard Mason and John Eyre that led him to stop the wedding. Here's my idea of how that might have gone.


He opened the door slowly, he didn't want to seem like a sudden intruder. He wanted to give …her….a chance to realize that someone was entering the room. It was late, though. Shouldn't she be asleep? But he knew better, she'd always been a night owl. He saw her sitting in the farthest corner from the door. Her hair was so shaggy and her clothes so bulky that you couldn't tell if she was facing the wall or the door.

He took a few steps into the room and gave a small smile and slight nod towards Grace Poole. He turned to look at her again as she sat in the corner and screamed as her savage face smiled at him and her strong hands closed around his throat. She showed him against the wall, then threw him on the floor.

"I'm here, sir." Grace Poole as she attempted to pull her off him.

"We're here, sir!" A deep voice said followed by a heavy knock on the carriage door. Richard Mason jumped awake and almost fell out of the carriage as the door was being opened for him. The coachman was a well built man and easily caught him. "Steady, sir." He said soothingly as he helped him to straighten. "Well get you to a steady chair and you will feel better, sir."

Richard stared up at the mansion of his oldest friend. His heart leapt at the thought of seeing him but he instantly felt pain because he knew this was the last visit he would be able to pay his bedridden friend. The door to the mansion swung open, his coat was discarded and he was sitting in a comfortable chair next to John Eyre's bed before he knew he blinked. He sighed in contentment and closed his eyes as his body relaxed completely and the aches and pain of the long journey were immediately forgotten.

"I hate to see you in such pain, old friend, as I am so happy that you are here." Came a weak voice from the bed.

"I feel wonderful now that I am not bouncing around in that carriage." He smiled and opened his eyes. It pained him to see his friend so thin and pale but he his happiness at his sudden visit was evident.

"I've received two letters in the last week and both have made me extremely happy." John sat up in his bed and held them out. "I'm so glad to have such a visit and such good news brighten my heart before I am to leave this world. I have heard from my niece, the past few years I thought her to have died as a child, but she's all grown up now and….read for yourself, Mason!"

Richard happily grabbed the letter from him and sat back and read it out loud:

Dear Uncle,

It is with a happy heart that I am able to write to you and correct a grave error of information that you have received when you inquired as to the whereabouts of your late brother's daughter. Mrs. Reid was under a false impression when she wrote back to you and informed you that I had died while I was at school. It is a shame that I cannot say all my fellow students were as lucky as I was but I have since finished school and have become a governess. I also write to share with you the good news that I am soon to be a married woman. Edward Rochester of Thornfield Hall shall change my name to his in one month. It is hard to put into words the joy that I feel that I shall be married and have yet another member added to my small family. I hope that I shall have a chance to meet you soon and wish to hear from you very soon.

With Warmest Regards,

Jane Eyre

The letter slid from his fingers, his eyes were vacant. "What is the matter, Richard!" asked the voice of his concerned friend. "Shall I call a Doctor?"

"No." Richard whispered. "When did you receive this letter?"

"Five days ago. Why? Do you know my niece? Do you know Edward Rochester?"

"I have meet your niece, she's a very fine and caring person. I am very well acquainted with Edward Rochester. I knew that he trusted and thought very highly of her but marriage…." He voice trailed off.

"What is wrong with him wanting to marry her?"

"It is my fault." Richard spoke out loud. "I shall ruin his life once more but I think this time it might cost him everything he has left since he…."

"What!?" John yelled.

"Since I tricked into marrying my sister." Richard blurted out the truth and for once in many a year did he feel some relief of the heavy heart he's carried around since he first schemed it.

"You tricked him?" John said in disbelief. "Your sister was always a lovely and very beautiful person, why would she need a husband tricked into marrying her?"

"Since the day of their marriage I have known that I shall burn in hell for the awful nightmare that I unleashed upon him. He was so trusting, so unsuspecting, and dutiful to his father's wished that he and my sister wed and combine fortunes. God, I have ruined his whole life." His face fell into his hands and he sobbed silently.

"Confess your sins to me, Richard." Came the soft voice from the bed, "Unburden your soul and help to protect me and mine. All acts of kindness are rewarded."

Richard looked at John sadly, "You will put in a good word for them then?"

John smiled weakly. "I will."

Richard leaned forward in his chair to sit as close to his friend as he could and quietly began his tale. "You have always known of the …out going behavior of my mother and my sister, yes?" John nodded. "They grew more reckless as the years went by."

"I always thought your sister was headstrong and outrageous." John interrupted then groaned and doubled over in pain.

"Are you alright, sir?" Mason asked worried as he stood up and grabbed his hand, patting it.

John Eyre was pale and thin as he laid in his sick bed, but when he looked him in the eyes he could see the fire in them. "Please tell me." He urged. Mason resumed his seat.

"I saw what was happening to them. After a few years my mother was so violent and vulgar that she was sent away, lest she cause a scandal the likes we could never recover from." He paused.

"What happened to them?"

Mason gulped hard. "They went insane. My grandmother was the first. I believe that it runs in the female side of the family but I worry often for my own sanity."

"You married your sister off to Rochester? You tricked your friend and let him marry your insane sister who would turn more and more violent as the years went by? How could you?" John asked shocked.

"I've asked myself that everyday. Rochester is a very decent and honorable man. He has done everything in his power to protect her from others as well as herself. I feel that my soul has been stained by this sin against and innocent man. I ruined his life and his prospects of a happy family and home. I did it on purpose to rid us of her. To let her be another's burden to bare. He aged so much that first month they were married. I think at one point he consider taking his own life. Then…" His voice trailed off as he looked off into space as he remembered the past.

"What?"

"He decided to leave Jamaica and take his lunatic bride with him. His father and brother had done all the could to keep the knowledge of his marriage from becoming the local gossip. When they passed away he went home. What he did after that I know not but I have thought of nothing else since."

"Wait a minute, Mason. Are you telling me that Rochester has a wife now living, who resides at Thornfield this very moment?" John sat up in bed and pushed his covers aside.

"He does." Mason gasped when John made a move to stand up. "What are you doing?" He held him up by his arm and lead him over to his desk, where he pulled out a piece of paper and started writing.

"I'm writing to a solicitor in London. I want you to go to London as quick as possible and tell him of this and stop that wedding! I will not have her disgraced in such a fashion. To ruin her innocence and her purity in such a despicable way. You must stop him." John never once looked up from his letter. When he finished writing he folded the envelope and sealed it with his seal.

"I will." Mason said taking the letter. "I shall keep more sins from befalling others. It is the least I can do for Jane Eyre after showing me such kindness. I shall protect her for you, sir." Mason helped John back to his bed and tucked him in.

"Thank you, Mason. All acts of kindness are never forgotten. Now go."

And Mason was gone.


End file.
